March 22nd, First Day Sailing
My fond friends family, and fans, I have been finding it very difficult to write about my experience sailing. This is not because it was a difficult experience, quite the contrary, it was an amazing and uplifting experience that I want desperately to put into words and share with you. However, because it was such an amazing time it is very difficult to contain in words. But I will do my best. I think I’ll use a form to make it easier. At the beginning of every day’s post I’ll write the basic facts, and below I will expound on my thoughts and discoveries of that day, and anything else I can think of that I want to include.
The sun was already shining when we woke up in the aft cabin. It was time to go. We used the fancy facilities of the Marina one last time and prepared to untie. The process of uniting is not difficult, but this event set a good example for how Jojo and I were to learn, participate, assist, and stay out of the way during our time on Northern Light. On a boat, there is a very clear chain of command, and the Captain of this boat is Rolf Bejalky, and he is a very experienced and capable captain. With the engine on we pulled away from our berth in a single turn, and my astonishment began. Northern Light can turn in a tight arc, much tighter than I expected.
We moved slowly out of the docks, past myriad other sailing vessels, all tied up, and a feeling within me grew, of embarkation, of adventure, and of the unknown. Those shackled vessels a metaphor of the release going on inside me, and the constraints that were dropping from my corporeal form like leaves from the trees greeting fall, on the shore slipping by.
It was a short trip to the fueling station where we docked and tied up again (but temporarily) next to much larger and bulkier (and less elegant) fishing and industrial vessels. The diesel came quickly through the industrial strength hose and pump. Jojo paid and at last we were free! We untied and continued west under motor through the channel from Puerto Montt, and out….
The sun was bounding off small waves in the open bay we entered, but it seemed big to me (and upon our return, small and insignificant). There was no wind to speak of, so we continued to motor. Under this Iron Sail we continued all day in the sun, with clouds sailing past, and lessons, leisure, and laughing accompanying us the whole way. The first lesson was in coiling the lines we had used to tie up. Cheaper nylon lines with loops at one end and steel eye holes at the other. Rolf showed us how to feel the natural bend to the line, so that we could coil it the right way, and to leave enough at the end to loop around and through the coil so that the lines could be stowed on their hooks below deck in the f’o’c’stl (pronounced folk-sill, but short for fore castle [as we were learning all nautical terms have old and sometimes obscure roots]). We stowed the bumpers and lines and sat together in the cockpit.
Pictured here with Jojo at the wheel, the cockpit is the main gathering and sitting space above deck. We enjoyed tea a cake here almost every afternoon (and by tea I mean coffee for Jojo, Deborah, and Rolf, and then Jojo and Rolf again a few more times every day).
We didn’t sail too far that day, and since we we’re sailing the iron sail, we found a spot to anchor between two islands just off shore from a futbol pitch, and across the channel from a fish farm.
Fish farms…. this is a relatively new industry in Chile, and has had some fairly dramatic effects, on the local economy, on the availability of fresh fish, and on the navigability of the channels. Fish farms are a big inconvenience for cruising (which is the term describing the kind of sailing we were doing) as well, because the farms operate best when anchored in about 10 meters of water, the same depth that is best for boats to anchor it. More on this later, and if I let Rolf have the keys here, you would be reading a very will argued and worded rant against the whole damn industry.
It was a beautiful anchorage, with a couple of fishing boats anchored nearby, and some truly beautiful birds of prey flying by, fishing, and perching on shore. We ate dinner and watched the sun go down, and prepared ourselves for our first night’s sleep out, in the relative peace of the anchorage we had chosen.
We both fell asleep quickly, to the quiet and tranquil rocking of the boat. Neither of us had experienced any seasickness, and the first day was as enjoyable as I could have hoped.
The sun was already shining when we woke up in the aft cabin. It was time to go. We used the fancy facilities of the Marina one last time and prepared to untie. The process of uniting is not difficult, but this event set a good example for how Jojo and I were to learn, participate, assist, and stay out of the way during our time on Northern Light. On a boat, there is a very clear chain of command, and the Captain of this boat is Rolf Bejalky, and he is a very experienced and capable captain. With the engine on we pulled away from our berth in a single turn, and my astonishment began. Northern Light can turn in a tight arc, much tighter than I expected.
We moved slowly out of the docks, past myriad other sailing vessels, all tied up, and a feeling within me grew, of embarkation, of adventure, and of the unknown. Those shackled vessels a metaphor of the release going on inside me, and the constraints that were dropping from my corporeal form like leaves from the trees greeting fall, on the shore slipping by.
It was a short trip to the fueling station where we docked and tied up again (but temporarily) next to much larger and bulkier (and less elegant) fishing and industrial vessels. The diesel came quickly through the industrial strength hose and pump. Jojo paid and at last we were free! We untied and continued west under motor through the channel from Puerto Montt, and out….
The sun was bounding off small waves in the open bay we entered, but it seemed big to me (and upon our return, small and insignificant). There was no wind to speak of, so we continued to motor. Under this Iron Sail we continued all day in the sun, with clouds sailing past, and lessons, leisure, and laughing accompanying us the whole way. The first lesson was in coiling the lines we had used to tie up. Cheaper nylon lines with loops at one end and steel eye holes at the other. Rolf showed us how to feel the natural bend to the line, so that we could coil it the right way, and to leave enough at the end to loop around and through the coil so that the lines could be stowed on their hooks below deck in the f’o’c’stl (pronounced folk-sill, but short for fore castle [as we were learning all nautical terms have old and sometimes obscure roots]). We stowed the bumpers and lines and sat together in the cockpit.
Pictured here with Jojo at the wheel, the cockpit is the main gathering and sitting space above deck. We enjoyed tea a cake here almost every afternoon (and by tea I mean coffee for Jojo, Deborah, and Rolf, and then Jojo and Rolf again a few more times every day).
We didn’t sail too far that day, and since we we’re sailing the iron sail, we found a spot to anchor between two islands just off shore from a futbol pitch, and across the channel from a fish farm.
Fish farms…. this is a relatively new industry in Chile, and has had some fairly dramatic effects, on the local economy, on the availability of fresh fish, and on the navigability of the channels. Fish farms are a big inconvenience for cruising (which is the term describing the kind of sailing we were doing) as well, because the farms operate best when anchored in about 10 meters of water, the same depth that is best for boats to anchor it. More on this later, and if I let Rolf have the keys here, you would be reading a very will argued and worded rant against the whole damn industry.
It was a beautiful anchorage, with a couple of fishing boats anchored nearby, and some truly beautiful birds of prey flying by, fishing, and perching on shore. We ate dinner and watched the sun go down, and prepared ourselves for our first night’s sleep out, in the relative peace of the anchorage we had chosen.We both fell asleep quickly, to the quiet and tranquil rocking of the boat. Neither of us had experienced any seasickness, and the first day was as enjoyable as I could have hoped.
posted by Greenstigator at 9:48 AM
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